1 Topic by dave kilbey

  • dave kilbey
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 14-08-2012
  • Posts: 29

Topic: Adding species to a recording scheme

Hi all

We're adding another 11 invasive plant species to a mobile phone app called PlantTracker which uses Indicia as its backend.  The existing 3 spp didn't appear to exist in a current taxonomy list so we created them from scratch.  For the 11 new ones should we be checking if they exist already in a taxonomical list (I guess each has a unique taxon ID in some master list and duplication is best avoided??).  Does the fact that we have custom attributes associated with our scheme make any difference to the decision?

If we should pull in from an existing list how should this be done?

Thanks

Dave Kilbey

2 Reply by Jim Bacon

  • Jim Bacon
  • Veteran
  • Offline
  • From: BRC
  • Registered: 03-11-2008
  • Posts: 980

Re: Adding species to a recording scheme

Hi Dave

What I would do is add the new species to your existing species list and, if you can, put the NBN Taxon Version Key in the External Key field for each species so that your records can be joined with other records of the same species further down the line.

There is an Indicia UK Master List from which it should be possible to create child lists that would inherit consistent information from the master list but I haven't tried using that. The master list is imported from the NBN Species Dictionary but I don’t know how our list is kept up to date. Moreover, by the nature of non-natives being new to the country, they may not have an entry in the species dictionary.

You mention custom attributes. I am guessing you mean custom sample or occurrence attributes which would not make any difference to the decision. You can create custom taxon attributes too but I have never had cause to experiment with them.

Sorry that is only a partial answer but you've reached the limit of what I know.

Jim Bacon.

3 Reply by johnvanbreda

  • johnvanbreda
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • From: UK
  • Registered: 27-04-2006
  • Posts: 1,237

Re: Adding species to a recording scheme

The only thing I'd add to what Jim says is that iRecord has a fairly comprehensive non-native specific checklist loaded on Warehouse1. This potentially could be exposed for your use by making it public like the UK master list, though I am not sure there is much benefit over you maintaining a list for your exact needs then providing the taxon version key in the External Key field so that we can match species against other lists in future if needs arise.
Best wishes

John van Breda
Biodiverse IT

johnvanbreda's Website